construction essay

Construction Safety In Hong Kong Construction Essay

Published: 23, March 2015

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In this project, several major works are carried out. First, three new transformer rooms are erected respectively at three locations which are Kai Min Lau (Block 4), Kai Hang Lau (Block 10) and Kai Chung Lau (Block 17). Second, drainage diversion is carried out at Block 10, during which old drainage pipes are replaced and new manholes are built. Moreover, all over the estate, new high-volt/ low volt cable trenches are constructed.

Furthermore, as mentioned above, CYC is a highly populated residential area, and thus the site is unavoidably surrounded by residential blocks, or even playground, forming a restricted space in which the movements of personnel or mobile plants are limited. Moreover, vehicular accesses route to the sites are poor since the road to the site is narrow. When site vehicles intend to enter the site, residents and workers are exposed to enormous risk as they may not be able to keep away from the heavy plants or vehicles.

To investigate the safety conditions and indentify unsafe factors of the captioned project, a six-month research was conducted, during which site walks were carried out on a regular basis, and, at different stages, direct observations about different trades involved in the construction work were made in person.

By doing so, close analysis could then be performed and the causes of problems could thus be found. Besides, photos were taken to keep pictorial records and to help readers comprehend the real situation of the workplace. After unsafe factors, such as inappropriate practices and substandard safety precautions were pinpointed, technical literatures and relevant information were studied and thereby specific preventive measures and remedial actions were devised and written down, constituting this report.

Worksite accidents are unexpected incidents which may cause injuries, fatalities or occupational diseases, resulting in lives loss and economic loss. Unfortunately, they can by no means be anticipated; however, they can effectively be prevented if persons on site strictly follow appropriate industry practices, make professional judgments and remain vigilant.

The causes of accidents are always unsafe acts and unsafe conditions, some of which could be found in the construction site of the captioned project. Even worse, the contractor undertaking this project is a smaller one, so it takes insufficient care to maintain site safety. With a view to making improvement in its safety performance, the site must be rid of these potential dangers. In this chapter, several different safety issues involving various trades are discussed, and at the same time, feasible solutions are proposed to help develop safer work practices.

The type of foundation used is pad footing and open excavation method is adopted. In this case, temporary support was not required to be applied to maintain the stability of the excavations sides. According to the BD approved drawings, the contractor was supposed to comply with the open cut method statement, using battered excavation sides at a safe angle of 45 degrees. However, it was found that the contractor failed to do so. The figure below has shown the neither safe angle of repose nor temporary support is provided to maintain the stability.

Each side of the excavation had exceeded 1.5m, and from bad to worse, no approval was granted from a geotechnical engineer to prove that all sides of the excavation site was not going to collapse, so this posed a threat to the site personnel working inside. Collapse of the excavation sides would lead to cave-in which is extremely dangerous and might stand a chance of causing fatal accident. The stability may seem to be satisfactory when the weather was fine, but when there was a heavy rain, dangers emerged.

In this construction project, the construction work of three new transformer rooms and trench excavation requires the assistance of excavators. For this reason, mobilization of excavators needs to be carried out from time to time. However, Cho Yiu Chuen is a hillside public estate and the transportation network is not well established and the road is relatively narrow.

Another potential hazard arises from the mobilization of heavy vehicles, for instance, road lorries, concrete mixer, concrete pump, etc. It is because there are only one-way roads around the estate, so pedestrians and vehicles have to share the same way. Since the workers and the residents always come close to the moving vehicles, accidents might easily occur.

Trench excavation plays a very important role in this project since one of the main goals of this project is to construct new electric cable trenches for both low-volt and high-volt cables. To cater for construction of new transformer room in Kai Hang Lau, drainage diversion is required and hence trench excavation is also carried out to allow installation of drains and sewers.

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